Watford have made nine and then ten changes for their previous League Cup matches this season and with tomorrow night's game being the Hornets' fourth in 11 days, they were always likely to make alterations to their starting XI.

And this afternoon head coach Gianfranco Zola confirmed there would indeed be several changes for the third round tie with Premier League side Norwich City.

Zola said: "We have our fourth game in about nine or ten days so it would be really foolish not to rotate some of the players.

"There are players who have played in the last three matches and when you do that the risk of injury is quite high especially considering we have another game on Saturday and then again next Tuesday.

"I will rest some players but I can assure you we will field a team which is competitive."

"We may lose some quality because you cannot pretend that all of the 20-odd players are at the same level but what you lose in quality, you gain physically," Zola added.

Watford do not have a large squad but it is high in quality and Zola has stated before previous rounds that he sees the League Cup as important due to the fitness and morale of the whole squad.

Today he added: "We don't underestimate the value of the cup that is for sure. It is not at the same level [in terms of priority] as the league because everyone knows the importance of the Championship to us.

"But we are not a team that have many other competitions so we will try our best to win the games."

The match has come too early for midfielder Almen Abdi, who has already missed the last three matches with an inflammation in one of his feet.

"Almen is looking better but is not yet fit," Zola confirmed. "He will probably be working with the team in a couple of days and working his way back to fitness."

Nyron Nosworthy and Tommie Hoban remain long-term injuries but Abdi should be the only other forced absentee.

Zola said: "We have a few players that are felling it because they have played many games but they have no particular issues. They are on the edge."

Tomorrow should be Chelsea loanee Josh McEachran's Watford debut after the midfielder joined the club on Friday and missed the trip to Barnsley.

Zola said: "He is in the squad and should be fit enough to play; whether he does or not I will have to decide tomorrow. He will certainly play a part of the game or all of it."